Women's Economic Power

Via Witchvox, Here's an interesting article from the Economist on women's growing economic power.

The Economist makes a couple of interesting points:

* Back-of-the-envelope calculations suggest that the employment of extra women has not only added more to GDP than new jobs for men but has also chipped in more than either capital investment or increased productivity. Carve up the world's economic growth a different way and another surprising conclusion emerges: over the past decade or so, the increased employment of women in developed economies has contributed much more to global growth than China has.

*Surveys suggest that women make perhaps 80% of consumers' buying decisions—from health care and homes to furniture and food." Eighty percent? Jesus Christ dancing naked under the moon and tattooed w/ blue woad! Can you imagine what we could do with that power if we ever harnessed it and decided to work together? Kali on cocaine!

*At school, girls consistently get better grades, and in most developed countries well over half of all university degrees are now being awarded to women. In America 140 women enrol in higher education each year for every 100 men; in Sweden the number is as high as 150. (There are, however, only 90 female Japanese students for every 100 males.)

In years to come better educated women will take more of the top jobs"

*"[A] study by Catalyst, a consultancy, found that American companies with more women in senior management jobs earned a higher return on equity than those with fewer women at the top. This might be because mixed teams of men and women are better than single-sex groups at solving problems and spotting external threats. Studies have also suggested that women are often better than men at building teams and communicating.

To make men feel even worse, researchers have also concluded that women make better investors than they do.:


For years, my checks have borne the imprint "Feminist Money."